Just found out about this pretty great looking panel discussion featuring former Observatory lecturer Carl Schoonover and Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder auther Lawrence Wechsler:

What We leave Out: The Art of Science Fiction Writing
Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2011, 7 pm
Venue: 92YTribeca MAINSTAGE
Location: 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson Street
Event Code: TS12D11185

Scientific experimentation is as much about what we choose not to study as what we do—researchers must always ignore some elements of a problem to focus on others.

Similarly, writing is a process of taking out as much as putting in, of deciding what we can include and what we must leave untouched. Writers who work with the future tend to care most about a particular aspect—about changes in technology, society or the environment.

Panelists Anna North, Carl Schoonover and Lawrence Wechsler discuss the ways writers fashion a future by whittling down an infinity of possibilities until that which most interests them remains. Join them as they shed light on the processes of writing and experimentation and how the eventual results are only part of the story.

The panel takes place tomorrow night! You can purchase tickets here.

Thanks, Carl, for sending this--and the photograph--along.

Image; Credit: Thomas Deerinck and Mark Ellisman, 2008.
This image depiects non-neuronal cells in the cerebellum, an area in the back of the brain that play a role in motor coordination. These cells, called glia (yellow), support the activity of neurons, providing nutrients and oxygen. They have been illuminated using a highly, specific antibody-based staining technique, leaving everything else--including the neurons they nurture--invisible in the background (blue).